This chapter deals with the theory of beings of reason of Bartolomeo Mastri (1602-73) and Bonaventura Belluto (1600-76). Mastri and Belluto were two Italian Franciscan Conventuals and self-professed ...
More

This chapter deals with the theory of beings of reason of Bartolomeo Mastri (1602-73) and Bonaventura Belluto (1600-76). Mastri and Belluto were two Italian Franciscan Conventuals and self-professed Scotists. They take up beings of reason at two occasions, first in their Disputations of Organon (1628) and then again in Disputations of Metaphysics (1646). This chapter deals only with their theory as it was presented in the former work. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first part discusses Mastri’s and Belluto’s views about the existence and actuality of beings of reason; the second discusses their views about the “formality” of beings of reason; and the third summarizes their views and compares them with those of Suárez. It is argued that Mastri and Belluto develop a theory of beings of reason that in many ways improves on the theory of Suárez.Less

Mastri/Belluto’s Modified Objectualism

Daniel D. Novotný

Published in print: 2013-04-22

This chapter deals with the theory of beings of reason of Bartolomeo Mastri (1602-73) and Bonaventura Belluto (1600-76). Mastri and Belluto were two Italian Franciscan Conventuals and self-professed Scotists. They take up beings of reason at two occasions, first in their Disputations of Organon (1628) and then again in Disputations of Metaphysics (1646). This chapter deals only with their theory as it was presented in the former work. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first part discusses Mastri’s and Belluto’s views about the existence and actuality of beings of reason; the second discusses their views about the “formality” of beings of reason; and the third summarizes their views and compares them with those of Suárez. It is argued that Mastri and Belluto develop a theory of beings of reason that in many ways improves on the theory of Suárez.

The influence of the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suárez (1548-1617) on 17th-century philosophy, theology, and law can hardly be underestimated. This book explores one of the most controversial topics of ...
More

The influence of the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suárez (1548-1617) on 17th-century philosophy, theology, and law can hardly be underestimated. This book explores one of the most controversial topics of Suárez’s philosophy: beings of reason. Beings of reason are impossible intentional objects, such as blindness and square-circle. The first part of the book is structured around a close reading of Suárez’s main text on the subject, namely Disputation 54. The chapters are devoted to the questions of the nature, causes, and the division of beings of reason. The second part centers on texts by other outstanding philosophers of the time, such as the Spanish Jesuit Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza (1578-1641), the Italian Franciscan Bartolomeo Mastri (1602-73), and the Spanish-Bohemian-Luxembourgian polymath Juan Caramuel de Lobkowitz (1606-82). Two theses are defended: First, that Suárez’s theory of beings of reason is incoherent and, second, that he stands at the beginning of a series of first-rate scholastic philosophers of the Baroque era who addressed this topic. These theses are supported by showing that the scholastic philosophers who followed Suárez attempted to improve upon the standard Suarezian account of beings of reason either by (a) modifying it, working out further details, and resolving the objections against it, or (b) coming up with altogether different theories. The book also contains a chapter which aims at making the scholastic preoccupations with beings of reason intelligible to contemporary analytical metaphysicians and a chapter discussing the need to pay greater historiographical attention to the study of scholasticism of the Baroque era.Less

Ens rationis from Suárez to Caramuel : A Study in Scholasticism of the Baroque Era

Daniel D. Novotny

Published in print: 2013-04-22

The influence of the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suárez (1548-1617) on 17th-century philosophy, theology, and law can hardly be underestimated. This book explores one of the most controversial topics of Suárez’s philosophy: beings of reason. Beings of reason are impossible intentional objects, such as blindness and square-circle. The first part of the book is structured around a close reading of Suárez’s main text on the subject, namely Disputation 54. The chapters are devoted to the questions of the nature, causes, and the division of beings of reason. The second part centers on texts by other outstanding philosophers of the time, such as the Spanish Jesuit Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza (1578-1641), the Italian Franciscan Bartolomeo Mastri (1602-73), and the Spanish-Bohemian-Luxembourgian polymath Juan Caramuel de Lobkowitz (1606-82). Two theses are defended: First, that Suárez’s theory of beings of reason is incoherent and, second, that he stands at the beginning of a series of first-rate scholastic philosophers of the Baroque era who addressed this topic. These theses are supported by showing that the scholastic philosophers who followed Suárez attempted to improve upon the standard Suarezian account of beings of reason either by (a) modifying it, working out further details, and resolving the objections against it, or (b) coming up with altogether different theories. The book also contains a chapter which aims at making the scholastic preoccupations with beings of reason intelligible to contemporary analytical metaphysicians and a chapter discussing the need to pay greater historiographical attention to the study of scholasticism of the Baroque era.